Your Favorite Movies of the 1990s

List Criteria: Films released between 1990 and 1999.

List of the best 1990s movies as ranked by the Ranker Community. These films - released between the years 1990 and 1999 - have remained memorable, influential and significant over a decade later. Some of them were heralded in their own time, but others only found an audience years later, on home video, DVD, cable television and even streaming on the Internet. When judging films from a bygone era, as in this case, rewatchability becomes a significant factor. Much-lauded '90s films like, say, "Breaking the Waves" may be superior to some of the films near the top of a "Favorite Movies of the '90s" list, but as the film is so serious, it's not as likely to be rewatched recently, or to remain fresh in audiences' minds. On the other hand, a film like "The Matrix" or "Fight Club" has seemingly grown in popularity and esteem from the '90s through the present day, due to consistent DVD spins, frequent HBO and Showtime appearances and so forth.

A number of the films on this "Best of the '90s" list were initially cult films in their own era. Prison drama "The Shawshank Redemption," most notably, failed to win a big audience in theaters, and hadn't initially recouped its own (modest) budget from its box office take. (Many critics blamed its somewhat obscure, difficult to recall title.) It has since become a beloved classic on home video and consistently ranks high in polls of Americans' all-time favorite films. Mike Myers' spoof of '60s spy films, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," was only a modest hit when it debuted in 1997, and only became a cult hit years later, spawning two sequels (with a third follow-up film reportedly on the way.)

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